Pomona College 'Joke' a Star Trek Legend

Hey Claremont, need a good reason to become a Star Trek fan? Pomona College gives you 47 reasons.

The college’s Facebook administrators recently pointed out the college got a mention on the i09 science/sci-fi website thanks to the number 47.

Apparently the number 47 is running joke in Star Trek.

“Well, technically, it started in 1964 as a ‘joke proof’ at Pomona College, where Professor Donald Bentley’ showed ‘that all numbers equal 47,’ ” according to the i09 writer. “This was apparently in service to the college's student project that catalogues sightings of the number.”

A mathematical proof, written that year by Bentley, supposedly demonstrates that all numbers are equal to 47, according to a Wikipedia page that i09 links to.

“(Student) Joe Menosky graduated from Pomona College in 1979 and went on to become one of the story writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation,” according to Wikipedia. “Menosky ‘infected’ other Star Trek writers with an enthusiasm for the number 47. As a result, 47, its reverse 74, its multiples, or combinations of 47 occur surreptitiously in almost every episode of the program and its spin-offs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. Forty-seven might be mentioned in dialogue or appear on a computer screen.”

To read the i09 report, click here.